Tess of the D'Urbervilles

A 19th century novel that defied the repressive moral conventions of Victorian England.

Young Tess Durbeyfield comes from an impoverished home. Her father, desperate to alleviate the family's financial plight, presses his daughter into work for the wealthy D'Urbervilles. But in doing so, Tess meets the manipulative Alec, who forces himself upon her. And though Tess later meets a kinder man who proposes marriage, her salvation is jeopardized when she reveals to him her troubled past. One of the most controversial novels of the late 19th century, Tess of the D'Urbervilles challenged Victorian society with its themes of moral righteousness and classist hypocrisy.